Book seller Barnes and Noble has hit out at Microsoft's bullying Android antics. While some manufacturers are paying up to give prevent Microsoft suing them over Android licences, Barnes and Noble has refused and now some of its reasons for doing so are appearing online.

Court documents found by Groklaw show that Barnes and Noble is rebelling against an "oppressive" licensing agreement which Vole is forcing down the throats of Android customers. It seems that Vole is leaning on Android licensees using the same anti-trust tactics that got it into trouble with the US Justice Department.

Barnes and Noble claim that the Volish license agreements go far beyond just paying to use some "trivial' patents. Microsoft appears to be trying to control future Android development. Groklaw has been showing exhibits and letters that Barnes & Nobles legal team has submitted to the courts and the Patent Office. What it is starting to look like is that Apple, Oracle, RIM and Microsoft formed an unholy alliance and bid almost 5 billion dollars to buy the Novell patents. Those patents were not originally filed regarding Mobile use but are being asserted against mobile OS functionality.

Meanwhile, Nokia and Microsoft's partnership on mobile phones appears to be more than just getting Vole into the mobile market. The two control a huge library of patents that can be brought to bear to shut down Android and control the mobile OS space. It looks like the plan is if that if Microsoft can't encourage anyone over to Windows Mobile they are going to make a killing by taxing Android.

Barnes and Noble thinks that Microsoft is forcing Android makers have to buy a Windows Mobile phone license for each Android set they sell. Sometimes Vole is making more from allowing an Android licence than it does from flogging a Windows one, Nokia points out. What is worse is that the Volish patents being used are "trivial" and "insignificant" in terms of Android's use. Barnes and Noble claim Microsoft is using these patents for minor functionality which all adds up. The court evidence appears to show that Vole makes license holders sign an "oppressive" agreement which gives Microsoft say over future hardware and software configurations and innovations.

If Android starts to advance too far, too fast, then Microsoft can effectively order manufactures to keep the status quo. Barnes and Noble is also asking the Department of Justice to look into Microsoft's Android actions as a prelude to another Anti-Trust action.

Groklaw has found proof that when Google first introduced Android, Sun, Java’s creator, was in favor of it.

When Android first came out, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, then Java’s owner, greeted the news with “heartfelt congratulations.” Oracle has apparently taken the unprecidented step of deleting the blog post where Schwartz said this, but Groklaw found the page and has republished it.

In the blog Schwartz congratulates Google “on the announcement of their new Java/Linux phone platform, Android.” He says that at “Sun is the first platform software company to commit to a complete developer environment around the platform, as we throw Sun’s NetBeans developers platform for mobile devices behind the effort. We’ve obviously done a ton of work to support developers on all Java based platforms, and we’re pleased to add Google’s Android to the list.”

So Java’s owner at the time not only welcomed Android’s use of Java, they were actively supporting it with development tools. The digging up of evidence basically ruins Oracle's case against Android.

The website which was responsible for bringing down the anti-Linux bad-boy SCO has decided to call it a day.Groklaw has said that it will shut shop on May 16 of this year.

Author, PJ played a crucial role in the SCO case and uncovered several pieces of important evidence in the case. Things got so bad that SCO targetted her on a more personal level and set its tame journalists on her to find dirt.SCO came quite close to claiming that it controlled Linux and had started to sue people who did not buy its licences.On the site PJ said that no matter what happens next, she knew that Groklaw changed the course of history and not many people get the chance to say that.

“I never expected it, frankly, and I am grinning just thinking about how much fun we've had doing it... our work will be available for historians permanently, so the impact we had isn't over today, and someday we'll tell our grandkids that we were part of this, part of Groklaw. We are in the history books.”